Raffaello Ferone

I wake up. It is dark everywhere around me. I feel the ground.
I look for an exit; I try to get out. Two eyes are staring at
me, they are following me. They do not give up. I am scared.
I am cold. Why am I so cold? Why am I naked? Where are
my clothes? Whose eyes are these? Is it a mirror? Wait, it is
not a mirror. I am not alone in the room. Who are you? I do
scream loud. Stop it. Enough! Leave me alone, please. I am
cold. Do not look at me in such a way. Who are you? What?
What the hell are you saying? Stop it. You cannot be me.
I am myself.
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I am questioning the identity.
I have been wondering for a long long time, how I would appear to my own eyes; how I would perceive my actions as a distinct foreign person; how other persons would answer and react to such a question.

I have asked the models to imagine to wake up in the dark and end up in front of...themselves. Not a mirror; in front of a distinct him/her-self. Who lives an independent life, and who observes us. I have asked them what their reaction would be. What would they say? Could they look at him/her in the eyes? What if he/she tried to get closer, to touch you? He/she is scrutinising you. Just one possibility: talk to him/her.
I decided to record their answer by means of photographs, where the nudity adds fragility and unease with respect to an unknown and stressful situation.

These pictures represent traces, fragments of far away and timeless dialogues, that over time fade, evaporate, leaving just an echo bringing along anxiety, fear, distress, rage, surprise.

Officially selected in 2015 for the “Festival Européen de la Photo de Nu” in Arles, France.
Officially selected in 2016 for the “Rendez-Vous Image” Photo Fair in Strasbourg, France.